1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to advertisements, commercials, or the like, and in particular to a system and method for integrating advertisements or commercials into an entertainment program or display by utilizing locations or fields in the entertainment program or display into which advertisements or commercials may be inserted and/or modified, so that the advertisements blend into the scene in which they are inserted without disrupting the entertainment program or display.
2. Background of the Invention
One of the fundamental elements of modern society is the pervasiveness of advertising or commercials. Advertising is everywhere, having penetrated every type of media, in every geographic location, and virtually every type of human activity, including marketing, education, elections, and governance. With the development of new media technologies, such as those associated with the Internet, advertising has become even more indispensable. Advertising, which has been with the Internet from its beginning, is an essential to the growth of electronic commerce and the Internet in general.
Even as advertising has become more pervasive, its effectiveness has in many cases declined. Once a novelty, advertisements are now often regarded as an annoyance, or at best something to be ignored. As currently configured, advertisements tend to detract from the entertainment value of the programming or display into which they are inserted, either by entirely interrupting the program as in conventional television commercials, or by taking up space that could otherwise be used as part of the main program or display. Viewers have learned to ignore or even skip such commercials.
It is of course possible to insert advertisements into programs at the time of creation. For example, it is common in cinema to place products at positions where they might have a promotional effect, for example because characters in the cinema are using them. Furthermore, writers often have characters in entertainment programs offer messages or information, and sponsors of sports events often place advertisements in positions where they can be viewed as background for the main sports action. However, such “product placements” or messages lack immediacy. For example, it would be useless to integrate a campaign advertisement into a movie or television program since such programs are often created far in advance of broadcast or release, and the advertisement will certainly become outdated by the time the program is re-run or re-released.